Evolutionary Athletics
Taking Sports Performance to the Next Level
Dec 16, CHRISTMAS SALE – 45% OFF VERTICAL MASTERY
Dec 16th
Get 45% off Vertical Mastery until Midnight, Dec 20, 2011
Dec 16, CHRISTMAS SALE – 45% OFF VERTICAL MASTERY
Dec 16th
Get 45% off Vertical Mastery until Midnight, Dec 20, 2011
Dealing With Injury
Dec 15th
If you implement anything from this post, you do so at your own risk. Always consult with your physician before any kind of treatment.
The best way to avoid injury is to avoid inefficient technique and program effectively. Even subtle form issues can cause problem in the long-term, but especially so if the body is in a perpetual state of under-recovery. If the system and structures aren’t fully recovered, then they can exhibit issues like soreness and pain, but they can also be susceptible to an acute injury. If the structure isn’t 100% and is being used inefficiently, a sub-maximal repetition can cause damage; I talked about it in this post. In any case, do something wrong with a lack of recovery and it results in shit being jacked up. This post is just a brief review of how to deal with most injuries.
What Is Hurt?
First order of business is knowing what the hell is actually going on. If you don’t know the name of a structure, that’s okay, but you should at least be able to discern what that area does. Something on the front of your hip is probably a hip flexor. Something on your ass or hamstring is probably a hip extensor. What happened when it got hurt? Under what circumstances or during what movements does it hurt now? This is all information that allows it to be ‘diagnosed’.
Irregardless, Ice It
Last night I heard a guy on ESPN radio say irregardless. If you have any kind of pain after a workout, then ice it. Failure to do so will result in being dropped from the course. But seriously, the way Kelly Starrett goes about this is that if you have pain and you’re not icing it, you don’t have an issue. It isn’t worth addressing if you’re not utilizing the most basic recovery mechanism.
Icing removes heat from the body to decrease inflammation and pain and helps promote healing in the structures. This is especially important in the first 24 hours of an acute injury, but should also be implemented throughout the process of recovery. Any time you rehab structures, ice them after until full, pain-free ROM is achieved.
Heat Is Only Preparatory
I know a guy who has been treating his injured back with heat. This may feel better than icing, but heat promotes inflammation while cold reduces it. Instead, only use heat when preparing for movement. Ligaments don’t receive blood flow, so externally warming them up with a heating pad and then keeping them warm with joint sleeves, clothing, or sweats can help them function normally. Weightlifters and powerlifters will often wear knee sleeves and I’ve had to use heat sources for my shoulders (acromioclavicular joint) and back in order to train or compete in a meet. However, don’t consider heat as a treatment; stick to using ice.
Remember: The Muscle Belly Isn’t Inflexible
An injured muscle shouldn’t be actively stretched. You’ll often see guys who have a calf, hamstring, or quadriceps strain trying to stretch it. The injury itself may have occurred because of inflexibility, but trying to stretch — or elongate the fibers — of a muscle when it’s injured isn’t going to help it heal. Instead, use light, high repetition contractions. Once the initial acute inflammation process has been dealt with (via icing), then mobilize the area via the “mobility” methods we use from MWOD.
General Rehab Strategy
Structures require an adaptive stress to increase in strength, size, or density. Injured structures like muscles and tendons (and to a lesser extent, bones) will obviously not be able to handle their pre-injury stress. The general strategy is to provide a very light stress through a full ROM and see how it adapts over the course of a day. If it feels the same or better, then apply the same stress or a little bit more. Gradually apply more stress as the structure(s) improve, and that’s essentially rehab. Stay patient, don’t be Johnny Badass, and you’ll get back to normal. It can be frustrating being hurt (I’ve had periods of not squatting or pulling for several months at a time), but it’s not the end of the world. Yet.
A Word On Joints
If you’re dealing with internal joint issues in a knee, hip, shoulder, or elbow, then rehabbing it will be different than a mere muscle strain. Joints will typically be out of the scope of what you should try and work on by yourself. However, if it’s an overuse issue caused by lots of work in a program or by doing new movements (i.e. elbows hurting with an increase in snatches or jerks or knees hurt from hiking a mountain), then reduce the work load and slowly adapt over time. Ease into new activities even if they don’t hurt from a muscular perspective. This is why beginners shouldn’t jump into a six-day-a-week Oly program.
Preventing Future Instances
Why did this injury happen? How did it occur? Do your knees move forward throughout a low bar squat rep? That would explain anything from knee pain to hip flexors, TFL, sartorius, gluteus medias, and lower back pain. Your medial elbow hurts? Well, do you have inflexible shoulders? Cause that would explain how a shitty low bar squat grip, clean rack, or press grip could cause that. Good coaching just isn’t to make you stronger; it helps you do the movements with mechanical efficiency so that extraneous stress isn’t placed on the wrong structure. Efficacy is safety. So please, be safe out there.
If You’re Lost On What To Do
You can search MWOD and other popular forums or websites, but you can always ask me or the 70′s Big community in the comments or the Facebook page. Chances are someone has experienced the same injury before and most people will know if actual medical treatment is necessary. Just keep in mind that seeing a doctor supersedes anything else, even if it’s a shitty doctor.
70′s Big Clothing Christmas Sale
Dec 14th
All of the clothing products on the 70′s Big Store are on sale for Christmas. I barely make any per item after lowering the prices, so this is one of my gifts to you for the holidays. Order today to get the item before Christmas with standard shipping (today is the last day). The newest product is the sweatshirt with the original logo.
Update: If you use these codes you can get free shipping on orders over $50 (valid through Dec 31).
SHIPFREEUS
CADSHIPFREE (for Canadians)
Power Meets R’ Us
Dec 14th
Chris and Mike did a meet this past weekend and Rory did one about a month ago. We’ll go in chronological order.
Rory had a goal of breaking the collegiate American squat record in the 198 lb class. Jacob went to the meet to touch himself watch, but Rory’s coach/handler didn’t show up! The fuck? After pulling his beard in rage, Jacob stepped in and did a swell job handling Rory in his record setting quest.
Rory primarily used a Smolov squat cycle to get his squat up and pretty much neglected the other lifts. It worked well for him as he broke the record with a 230k (507 lbs) squat on his second attempt, and then got some cues from Jacob to come back and increase his record to 235k (518 lbs):
Chris and Mike didn’t really taper for the meet and used it as a training day. Both had solid days. They ate at a shitty restaurant for breakfast and apparently it wreaked havoc on their stomachs. Chris cites this diarrhea as the primary reason his squats didn’t go as well. He went 622 and 639 on his first and second attempts, then on the third attempt at 650 he farted at the bottom and missed the rep. I’ll also address a small squatting issue in the programming and he’ll definitely hit 660 at the Arnold.
Chris then worked up to a simple 380 on his third attempt bench after not really pausing in training (although he recently doubled 385). On deadlift we did the normal “first attempt is last warm-up” around 585, then an intermediate jump around 622, then he took 307.5k (677) on his third for a routine pull. Chris went 8/9 with two meet PRs and he’s geared to have a great meet at the Arnold.
(There isn’t vid of Chris’ squats, so it’s just his third bench and dead)
Mike continued his streak of very successful meets going 9/9 and hitting PR’s of 573 on squat, 325 on bench, and 628 on deadlift. Just fucking outstanding. I’ve said this before, but Mike is very in tune with his training. He usually knows exactly what he’s capable of in a meet based on how his training has been going. Lately he has been utilizing ladders on his bench volume and high bar and front squats on his squat volume with a lot of success (they will be discussed in detail in the new e-book).
(This vid is only of Mike’s third attempts)
Great job all around for everyone. Briskin also did a meet and PR’d on everything, although he’s unhappy with his progress. Go to the Facebook Fan Page for some more pictures and shenanigans from Rory/Mike/Chris’ meets.
Nicu Vlad
Dec 13th
Nicu Vlad is one of the greatest weightlifters of all time. He lifted in the 90kg weight class and is most well known for having the heaviest double body weight snatch; he snatched 200 kilos while weighing 100. He won an gold at the 1984 Olympics, placed second in 1988, and placed third in 1996 (when he was 33!). He also placed in the top three in seven World Championships (winning gold in three) and placed in the top two in six European Championships.
There are only a few videos on YouTube of his prowess, and here are two with the best video quality (note the Gordon commentators).
The 215kg clean and jerk from the same meet.
A few years ago Matt Foreman wrote an excellent article about Vlad in the Performance Menu. The story under the heading “A quick 185 snatch, then some RDLs…” stood out to me. Foreman was watching Vlad snatch, and Vlad missed 175 twice and then jumped to 180 and missed that twice.
I will never forget what he did next.
He loaded 185 on the bar. This time, as he stood in front of the bar preparing for the lift, he stood motionless, tilted his head back and closed his eyes in the famous Vlad-concentration pose we had all seen him strike on the platform at the Olympics and world championships. He had not done this before any of the other lifts of his workout, and the gym went completely silent. After ten seconds, he reached down, grabbed the bar, and nailed the easiest, strongest snatch of the day.
Foreman later found out that 185 was his goal weight for the day, and he pointed out how Vlad didn’t make a big production out of missing the previous reps or getting ready (or “psyched”) for the 185. I admire this trait in Vlad and other weightlifters as it represents maturity and discipline in the mental aspect of training. The ability to mentally induce a hurricane is much more impressive to me than requiring external stimuli like music, slapping, and yelling.
However, I don’t like how Foreman chose to explain it here: “When he got to 185…he just applied an extra level of concentration and focus. It was a big weight, he was having a bad workout, and he needed to tap into his extra reservoir of inner strength, mojo, or whatever you want to call it.”
Foreman and I admire Vlad for the same reasons, but this quick explanation is merely an over simplification on what Vlad was probably doing. Profile studies of the most successful athletes — the elite — show that they score the highest in “vigor”, a summary for strong mental health. This is typically innate in the highest performers, but their ability can be augmented by various mental strategies. World class athletes are typically taught things like arousal regulation, imagery, routines, self talk, and thought stoppage that focus on physical cues or improve concentration, motivation, self confidence, and subsequently performance.
While it’s possible that Vlad closed his eyes and merely gave himself a pump up, I like to think it was a specific psychological method that he regularly uses. The techniques above aren’t just used once in a while; they are practiced hundreds and thousands of times in congruence with the sport itself so that they become as much habit as the sport. For example, if a lifter takes fifteen minutes from each day, relaxes, and visualizes hitting a smooth snatch with whatever his primary cue is (like stabbing the rack position), then when he finally steps back on a platform he has mentally practiced the snatch hundreds of times. He has seen or felt his body perform it, so the lift itself becomes a part of the story that has played out in his head every day. This is just one very specific type of example.
On that particular day, it may have been something as simple as Vlad thinking about wanting to win the 1990 World Championships (Foreman’s stories are from earlier that year). He may have thought about one of his top adversaries lifting better than him. He may have been just been pissed off about missing and was giving himself an ultimatum. Maybe he thought, “Don’t look like a loser in front of these fucking American kids.” Who knows what he thought about, but it wasn’t merely that he “focused harder”. There are many psychological skills that can be implemented whether they are taught or not, and a complete change in performance doesn’t occur from a vague “inner strength”.
Either way, Vlad was an amazing weightlifter and someone whose technique — physical and mental — we should study and learn from.
Developing A Pull-up
Dec 12th
Mondays consist of posts primarily for or about females.
Last Monday I put up a poll asking whether or not the ladies could do a dead hang pull-up. 34% are unable to, 58% can, and the remaining 8% can do a chin-up (underhand/supinated grip). This post focuses on some techniques that can be used to develop a chin or pull-up. But first we have to detail some points about mechanics.
Guys, if you’re bored, this vid is for you.
More impressive vid.
Physics
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Chins vs. Pull-ups
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Where to Start
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Negatives
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The Frequency Method
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Developing the top ROM
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Developing the bottom ROM
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Cues
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Regardless of the strength or height of the girl, she needs to use a high frequency practice to develop a chin-up. The trainee can be dropped anywhere on this progression and continue on it until the first chin is achieved:
- use machines (assisted pull-up or lat pulldown) or bands for initial strength/musculature
- switch to negatives
- do negatives with high frequency
- work on the weak ROM
Q&A – 9
Dec 9th
Happy PR Friday. Let’s get down to biznezz.
ngalfano13 Says:
quick question for Justin and anyone else: i have been training for about 2 months now, and my press has just stalled at 125 for about a week now. i can’t seem to get it. i am 18 years old, 155lb power clean, 205 squat, 170 bench. can anyone tell me why this is?
Dear ngalfano13,
Short answer: I’d have to see your program. Let’s assume you’re taking care of recovery (nutrition/protein, sleep, etc.). Are you doing a linear progression? How long have you been training? I’d have to assume it isn’t terribly long. Keep toiling away with 3
What’s the deal with CrossFit?
Dec 8th
Note: Read ALL of this before attacking me. This is fair and objective.
CrossFit has exponentially increased in popularity over the last 8 years or so. Most of us have been involved with it in some manner, and many people actively dislike it. Any mention of CrossFit will yield a series of (usually deserving) jests and japes in the comments.
Introduction
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Growth of CrossFit
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Why Don’t People Like CrossFit?
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Glassman
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HQ
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The Cult-Like Community
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CrossFit Coaching
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CrossFit Programming
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Is It Really That Bad?
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Impact of CrossFit
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CrossFit Gyms
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Conclusion
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TL;DR
CrossFit is goofy and does some things wrong, but it has some redeeming qualities. I have a unique experience with it that leads me to think about all of this differently than the person who just sees “softball throws for distance” and “we are elite” kind of stuff online. Lots of the gyms are very good. Overall, it could be worse: everyone could be using ellipticals.
Feel free to ask any questions you want. Read the “Introduction” section to see my experience with CF (it includes having the Level II certification).
Glögg AKA Spiced Wine
Dec 7th
Glögg is a term for Nordic mulled wine and is amazing. If you have read A Game of Thrones of the Song of Ice and Fire series, then you may have craved the spiced wine they consume on the wall. This is an excellent drink to warm yourself during the holidays since it is sweet, spicy, and has some liquor added in.
The style of glögg that we’ll be working with is a dry, red wine with a liquor added in (specifically brandy). Typical spices include cloves, allspice, cinnamon, and cardamom (and never in ground form, always in whole form). Sweeteners include fruit (mainly oranges), honey, orange juice, and sugar (white or brown). Then you can add some subtle accessory flavors with blanched almonds or maybe nutmeg (I haven’t tried nutmeg). The amount and type of spices and sweeteners are totally up to you and your taste preference.
You should be able to find a 1.5L bottle of wine for $10 or less at a grocery store. I’ve been told that wines that are about 13.5% alcohol ensure at least a base line of quality (since they were allowed to ferment longer than a lower percent wine). Don’t worry about high quality wine since you’re going to completely alter the flavor anyway. The same goes for brandy; you’re going to use it as an ingredient so don’t spend a lot of doll hairs. The spices should be 3 or 4 doll hairs each. Remember to avoid ground stuff: get cinnamon sticks, whole cloves, and allspice pods. I haven’t used cardamom but have seen it in various recipes.
The cooking is pretty simple: put all of that stuff in a pot and let it simmer. Don’t simmer it too warm, because then some of the liquid and alcohol will evaporate off (my first attempt had a good simmer, and I lost a bit of the volume). Use the “just a little” approach; use just a little spice, just a little sweetener, and just a little heat because you can always add more when you need to. Below is a good base recipe from my friend Kat who introduced me to glögg (by the way, her husband’s name is Conan…no shit). Kat constantly tinkers with recipes, but I suggest starting with this and tweaking it to your own taste.
A base recipe from Kat
750 mL of a robust, dry red wine
150 mL of inexpensive brandy
1/4 cup pulp free orange juice
4 cinnamon sticks
1 tablespoon of whole allspice pods
15 blanched almonds
1 drop of vanilla extract
1 dozen whole cloves
1 orange, thick sliced
2 tablespoons honey
1/4 brown sugar (or less, as desired)
Combine wine, brandy, orange juice, cinnamon sticks, allspice, almonds, and vanilla extract into a large pot. Poke cloves into orange slices and add to mixture. Stir in honey and brown sugar to accommodate taste preference. Simmer approximately 45 minutes. Strain and serve warm.
The primary variables to tweak are spiciness and sweetness. If it was too sweet, then reduce one or all of the sweeteners for a subtle effect, or completely remove it for a significant effect. Just like in programming for lifting, I suggest subtle changes instead of large changes; change too much and you won’t know which ingredient had the most impact.
I didn’t poke the cloves in the orange like Kat said because I’m lazy. My first batch didn’t have allspice in it and I noted that I wanted it to be spicier. The second batch (in the vid) did have allspice, and I didn’t use brown sugar or orange juice, but I did use honey. It was quite spicy and will probably benefit from a little bit of sweetener added in (probably in the form of sugar, but more honey would work).
